284 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1 9 10 



"Fou 



9 9 



racre 



The Summer Home of the Late A. J. Cassatt, at Bar Harbor, Maine 



By Barr Ferree 



HOUSE as big as all outdoors and built al- 

 most directly on the water, is a terse de- 

 scription of the great rambling summer 

 home built for the late A. J. Cassatt, at 

 Bar Harbor, by Messrs Chapman & 

 Eraser, architects of Boston. It is a vast 

 and comfortable dwelling, built, ap- 

 parently, with a most delightful disregard of the economy 

 often entailed by cost and space, built in a truly rambling 

 way, room added to room, corridor added to corridor, 

 spreading out, if not in every direction, at least in so de- 

 lightfully extended a way as to seem almost as endless in 

 extent as it is actually boundless in sufficiency and con- 

 venience. 



It should not be supposed, however, that all this great 

 upbuilding was done in a haphazard manner or without re- 

 gard to architec- 

 tural principles. 

 Mr. Cassatt d e - 

 sired a big roomy 

 house, a house of 

 ample space and 

 ease, a house big 

 enough to live in, 

 in a large and com- 

 fortable way, yet 

 of modest and 

 quiet design, 

 suited alike to the 

 situation, to the 

 needs of the house 

 as a place for re- 

 laxation and simple 

 living. The pro- 

 gramme was simple 

 enough, yet it may 

 be admitted with- 

 out any hestitation, 

 that the problem 

 might have been 

 solved in a more 

 elaborate manner 

 without any wide 



departure from the elementary conditions. But one may 

 be sure it would not have been so attractive a house, nor 

 one so well suited to meet the wishes of its large-hearted 

 builder. 



There are no frills on this house, and none were wanted. 

 It is the highest compliment that can be paid it to add 

 that none are needed. It exactly meets the requirements 

 demanded of It, and Is exactly what it purports to be. 

 Those who knew Mr. Cassatt would instantly characterize 

 it as precisely the sort of a house he would have desired 

 for this place. Other houses, built and designed in a dif- 

 ferent way, met his wishes in other localities. But here, 

 in the bracing air of Bar Harbor, this is the kind of a 

 house to build, and the sort of a house to live In. 



It Is a thoroughly excellent type of the large seashore 

 cottage. It Is neither a palace nor a mansion, but a really 



The hall 



fine type of the seaside "cottage." Of course It Is large, 

 but that Is because it was Intended to be big; but with all 

 its size no part departs from the true "cottage" type. 

 In a period when the large seashore house Is apt to violate 

 every traditional thought In connection with houses so 

 located. It Is something to have a house that so finely Illus- 

 trates the simple type of architecture, particularly when it 

 does so on so extended a scale. 



The house Is two stories In height, with great high pitched 

 roofs, a goodly portion of which contains a third story. 

 The first story Is built of brick, covered with stucco, with 

 an outer coat of cream white plaster. The second story 

 is frame and shingled, and stained dark brown. The roof 

 is shingled and stained like the second story. 



As for the design, the house Is "just built." It has no 

 architectural facade, no ornamental front in the common 



acceptance of the 

 word; but it is 

 obviously a house 

 of exceeding com- 

 fort and great 

 spaciousness. 

 Where windows 

 are needed they are 

 opened. Where 

 doors are required 

 they are sufficiently 

 placed. If a bay 

 window is sought 

 to add charm to an 

 interior, it Is In- 

 cluded In the de- 

 sign. Where ex- 

 pansion is required 

 It is allowed; and If 

 contraction seems 

 the better thing 

 then that too finds 

 its place in the plan. 

 Both architects and 

 client must have 

 found abundant 

 satisfaction In the 

 seashore home they set about building In this friendly 

 manner; for surely -it must have been a friendly work. In 

 which all parties showed a pleasant zest. 



Mr. Cassatt's house gives every evidence of a rambling 

 plan, yet this is simply the playful character given it by its 

 architects. It is, In reality, a thoroughly well ordered and 

 carefully studied dwelling, planned with admirable skill 

 and In a thoroughly artistic manner. As usual In large 

 country houses it consists of two parts, the main portion, 

 containing the public rooms and the bedrooms, and a serv- 

 ice wing, which Is devoted to the servants. As has become 

 much the vogue In later years the last has been deflected 

 at an angle from the main axis, a variation in plan that 

 sufficiently explains Its purpose, while giving a welcome 

 mobility to the ground plan and elevations. 



The house is entered through a porch that connects with 



